Personal Chef To Go's Official Blog

June 2014

06/27/2014

In the warmer, longer, lazier days of summer, the living may not be easy, but maybe your life probably feels less chaotic. Even adults tend to adopt a "school's out!" attitude in summer. That's why this is a perfect time to improve your health. You'll barely notice the effort with these 5 tips:

1. Relax and breathe. You've been working hard. This is the season to slow the pace a bit and absorb the light that stimulates your hormonal message center. Leave your cell phone at home or take a week off from TV. In many European countries, most of the population has a month off during the summer.

2. Sun teas are wonderful. Use flowers and leaves (or tea bags) in a clear half- or one-gallon glass jar filled with spring water. Hibiscus or red clover flowers, peppermint, chamomile, or lemon grass are all good choices, or use your local herbs and flowers that you learn are safe, flavorful, and even medicinal. Leave in the sun for two hours or up to a whole day. Moon teas can also be made to enhance your lunar, dreamy side by letting your herbs steep in the cooling, mystical moonlight. Add a little orange or lemon peel, or a sprig of rosemary and a few jasmine flowers.

3. Nutritional supplements can support you with a greater amount of physical energy, enhancing your summer activities. The B-complex vitamins are calming to the nervous system and helpful for cellular energy production, while vitamin C and the other antioxidants protect your body from stress, chemical pollutants, and the biochemical by-products of exercise. Helpful summer herbs are Siberian ginseng as an energy tonic and stress protector, dong quai is a tonic for women, hawthorn berry is good for the heart, and licorice root will help energy balance and digestion.

4. Use the summer months to deepen the spiritual awakening begun in the spring. Begin by checking your local bookstore or the web for ideas that interest you. Plan a vacation that incorporates these new interests and provides you time to read, relax, contemplate, and breathe.

5. Above all, give yourself the time to truly experience Nature. This can happen, even in a city park, if you relax and let in your surroundings. When traveling, take activities for the family and your first aid kit for bites, bee stings, and injuries. Check for ticks after your hikes. Watch for overexposure, take time in the shade, and drink your water.

06/25/2014

We live in a super-size society. Fast food portions have grown two to five times their original size in the last 20 years and our own homemade meals aren’t far behind. A result of these larger portions is that obesity rates are on the rise.

Americans are now so conditioned to eating large amounts that most cannot recognize appropriate portions anymore. Brian Wansink, PH.D. illustrates this issue in a study detailed in his book, Mindless Eating. Wansink’s “bottomless soup bowl experiment” looked at what diners would do if their bowl never became empty. During a dining scenario, unsuspecting diners had bowls that used hidden tubing and a clever knowledge of physics to stay partially full. The results of the study showed that diners with a bottomless bowl unknowingly ate 78% more than those with the standard bowl!

Similarly, a study by the American Institute for Cancer Research revealed that 78% of Americans think that the kind of food they choose is more important in managing their weight than the volume of food they consume. Consequently, many trendy diet plans gain popularity because of their policy to allow you to eat limitless amounts of certain types of foods while cutting out others completely; however, most health experts recommend eating smaller portions of a wider variety of foods rather than eliminating foods when dieting.

Confused about portion sizes yourself? Keep these examples of realistic food portions in your mind’s eye to help you choose appropriately:

One serving of milk, yogurt or pudding (1 cup) is about the size of a small fist.

One serving of meat, chicken or fish (3 ounces) is the size of a deck of cards or your palm (not including the fingers).

One serving of pasta, rice, oatmeal, potatoes or cooked vegetables (1/2 cup) is about the size of a hockey puck or one cupped hand.

One serving of cheese (1 ounce) is the size of the end of your thumb.

One serving of butter, oil or margarine (1 teaspoon) is about the size of a stamp or the tip of your pinky.

One serving of salad dressing (2 tablespoons) is about the size of a standard ice cube.s

One serving of raw vegetables (1 cup) is about the size of a baseball or two hands cupped together.

Two teaspoons of regular mayonnaise are about the same size as two dice and equal one fat serving, or about 45 calories.

One small apple is about the same size as a tennis ball and equals one fruit serving, or about 60 calories. The same is true for a medium orange, which is also the size of a tennis ball and about 60 calories.

One and a half to 2 ounces of low-fat hard cheddar cheese are about the same size as three to four dice and equal one protein/dairy serving, or about 110 calories.

Restaurants have begun to recognize the appeal that portion control has for consumers; for example, one popular restaurant chain launched a new meal portion size option that is two thirds the size of their original servings. There are other easy ways to indulge in delicious foods without scrutinizing your plate, too. Pre-portioned entrées such as the fresh and healthy offerings from Personal Chef To Go are a perfect solution!

Since many people feel that they don’t have the time to measure out proper portions, Personal Chef To Go’s delicious and nutritious meal plans have been designed to take the guesswork out of choosing the appropriate portions. Our perfectly portioned variety of freshly prepared food can help to train your eyes and stomach to learn what true servings sizes should be.

Besides being easy, the Personal Chef To Go philosophy works! A University of Illinois study found that women who followed a 1,365-calorie diet in which they ate two packaged entrées a day shed about 5 pounds more in 8 weeks than those who were instructed to follow a diet (with the same number of calories) based on the food pyramid.

Let portion control help you achieve your healthy lifestyle goals by considering these additional tips:

Choose a variety of foods from all of the sections of the Food Guide. For example, the Personal Chef To Go, Healthy Baked Chicken Parmesan when partnered with one cup of fresh berries topped with yogurt, provides servings of Meats and Beans, Fruits, Vegtables, Grains and Milk.

Read labels – often nutrient facts labels are based on a smaller portion than expected, especially for snacks. Measure out the recommended serving into small bags to grab when you have the munchies in order to prevent overindulging by mistake.

Use smaller scoops or serving spoons and a smaller dinner plate. An appropriate portion will look much larger and heartier on a smaller plate.

It may take some practice to become a better judge of serving sizes and portions, especially as you put entire meals together. But the more you practice visualizing the cues, the more control you'll have over portion sizes. Controlling portion sizes also means controlling calories — and that's key to achieving weight-loss goals, if you have them, and smart and healthy weight management.

06/23/2014

You’ve been exercising and getting outdoors regularly, but now it’s summer — and hot. It’s sometimes even dangerously hot and seemingly too hot to go work out or pursue any activity beyond a dark movie theatre or staying cool indooors.

Don’t decide this is the time for a little summer break from fitness or other outdoor activities, experts say, because you may be hurting yourself in the longer term.

It’s important to continue moving over the summer because the effects of exercise are rapidly lost once training stops. In fact, most studies suggest many of the key benefits are lost in four to six weeks of inactivity.

Still, you can’t just ignore the heat because you could wind up with heat stress, heat stroke or other problems. So to keep the heat from melting your workouts, we suggest you:

Exercise smarter, not harder. Work out during the cooler parts of the day, preferably when the sun's radiation is minimal — early in the morning or early in the evening. Decrease exercise intensity and duration at high temperatures or relative humidity. And don’t hesitate to take your exercise inside, to the gym, the mall or anyplace else where you can get in regular physical activity.

Ease in to summer. Allow your body to adapt partially to heat through repeated gradual daily exposures. An increase in the body's circulatory and cooling efficiency, called acclimatization, generally occurs in only four to 14 days.

Dress the part. Wear minimal amounts of clothing to facilitate cooling by evaporation. Remember, it’s not sweating that cools the body; rather, the evaporation of sweat into the atmosphere. Wear lightweight, light-colored clothing in breathable fabrics such as cotton.

Watch The Clock & Team up. If you can, exercise with a friend or family member. It’s safer, and could be more fun. It’s best to avoid the outdoors in the early afternoon (about noon to 3 p.m.) because the sun is usually at its strongest, putting you at higher risk for heat-related illnesses, like heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Keep these five tips in mind and you'll sail through your summer activities without risking your health!

06/20/2014

Summer has finally arrived! It’s time to dig out the barbeque grills and deck furniture or even whip out the bikinis and take off for some well-deserved relaxation on the beach, lake or river.

For many of us, summer also brings the temptations of ice cream, overdoing the tan and forgetting the summer diet and exercise. We suggest you consider these 5 tips:

1. Stay cool and hydrated. Drink water, at least two to four cups (16-32 ounces) upon rising, and similar amounts if you are going out for activities and exercise. Carry water with you in a hard plastic container (more stable polycarbonate rather than polyethylene that leaches plastic into the water). You may also use a traveling water filter. Check your local water stores or www.realgoods.com. Most people need two to three quarts of liquid per day, and more in hot weather or with sweating and exercise.

2. While enjoying the sun and outdoors, protect yourself from overexposure to sunlight by wearing a hat and using natural sunscreens without excessive chemicals. Carry Aloe Vera gel for overexposure and have an aloe plant growing in your home for any kind of burn. The cooling and healing gel inside the leaves will soothe any sunburn. It works great!.

3. Keep up or begin an exercise program. Aerobic activity is important for keeping the heart strong and healthy. If you only work out in a health club, take some time to do outdoor refreshing activities -- hiking, biking, swimming, or tennis. Reconnecting with these activities will help keep your body and mind aligned.

4. Enjoy Nature's bounty – fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables at their organic best. Consuming foods that are cooling and light -- fresh fruits, vegetable juices, raw vital salads, and lots of water -- will nourish your body for summertime activities. Include some protein with one or two meals. There are a number of light, nourishing proteins that don't require cooking. Most of these complement fruits and vegetables nicely-- nuts, seeds, sprouted beans, soy products, yogurt, kefir, and cottage cheese. Fish and poultry can also be eaten.

5. Take some special summer time with your family, kids, and friends who share the enjoyment of outdoors. Plan a fun trip for a day or longer if you're able and motivated -- hiking in the wild, camping, playing at the river, or a few days resting at the ocean. Rekindling our Earth connection has benefits that last beyond this season, continuing to enrich the whole of your life.

Balance your fun with these 5 tips and you’ll be living smart and healthy!

Below you'll find guidelines of food the diet recommends you eat, along with the number of servings per day. (These servings are based on a 2,000-calorie diet, but you may need to consume more or less than 2,000 calories a day, depending on your activity level. Check with your doctor, or use a calorie calculator for an estimate of your daily calorie needs.)

Grains (7–8 daily servings): Consume seven to eight servings of primarily whole-grain products. Look for the word "whole" — don't assume that any brown-colored "wheat" bread is a great choice. Read further and check the Nutrition Facts label, the list of ingredients, and the fiber content. Look for whole-wheat flour or another whole-grain flour as the first ingredient. Also, seek grain products with 2 or more grams of fiber per serving. Venture out of your comfort zone and try brown and wild rice, barley, bulgur, quinoa, or whole-wheat couscous as your grains.

Examples of one serving of grains include 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of dry cereal, or 1/2 cup cooked cereal, rice, or pasta.

Fruits (4–5 daily servings): Eat four to five servings of fruits every day. Find new ways to add more fruit to your meals: Top salads with sliced strawberries or apples; add raisins or blueberries to oatmeal. Make fruit your daily go-to choice for snacking, too.

A serving of fruit may be 1 small to medium fruit, 10 grapes, 1/2 grapefruit, a small banana, or 2 tablespoons of raisins.

Vegetables (4–5 daily servings): Try to eat four to five veggie servings daily. If you think eating that many vegetables every day is difficult, try adding more vegetables to sandwiches: spinach leaves, green peppers, sliced tomatoes, and sprouts are all excellent sandwich toppers. If you're tired of the bland taste of boiled vegetables, give grilling a chance. Grill zucchini, Portobello mushrooms, eggplant, peppers, and Vidalia onions to really turn up the volume on vegetable flavor.

Lowfat or nonfat dairy (2–3 daily servings): You need two to three servings of lowfat or nonfat dairy. Limit your milk to skim or 1-percent, and primarily eat lowfat yogurt and cheese.

To meet your two-to-three-servings goal, drink two 1-cup servings of skim or 1-percent milk daily. Or, as one serving, have a snack of 8 ounces of lowfat Greek yogurt. Eating 1 ounce of lowfat or nonfat cheese also counts as a serving. To cut the fat even more, use lowfat yogurt instead of sour cream in your recipes.

Lean meats, fish, and poultry (2 or fewer daily servings): Shoot for two or fewer servings of lean meats, fish, and poultry every day, and limit the total to 6 ounces.

Nuts and seeds (4–5 weekly servings): You want four to five servings per week of foods in this category. Yep, that's per week, not per day. Even though nuts and seeds provide good fats (see the upcoming bullet point on healthy fats and oils), they're calorically dense. Try adding small amounts of nuts to your salads or stir-fries to meet your goal of getting four to five servings.

A serving of nuts is about 1/3 of a cup (make sure they're unsalted) or 2 tablespoons of nut butter (like peanut or almond). A healthy serving size of unsalted seeds, such as sunflower seeds, is 2 tablespoons.

Healthy fats (2–3 daily servings): Go for two to three servings per day of healthy fats as part of a hypertension diet. Oils with healthy monounsaturated fats include olive, peanut, and canola oils. Soybean oil and corn oil are higher in polyunsaturated fats, which are good for you, too. Some foods that feature healthy fats are avocados, nuts, olives, seeds, vinaigrette salad dressings, spread margarines, natural nut butters, quick breads made with vegetable oil, and recipes that include the healthy oils listed here.

Check the nutrition facts label to determine the serving size for food products under this umbrella.

Fats and sweets (2 or fewer daily servings — according to the actual serving size): Limit your servings in the fats and sweets category to less than two servings per day. Make sure you actually read the label of whatever goodie you're indulging in so that you only eat one serving instead of five by accident.

Why You Should Eat Personal Chef To Go

All Personal Chef To Go menus are freshly prepared each week with whole and organic grains, fresh vegetables and hormone and antibiotic free meats, arriving at your door fresh, preservative and chemical free, never frozen, never processed.

All of our menus are heart healthy, low on the glycemic index, low to no gluten and have been evaluated by a cardiac rehab dietician and Bon Secours hospital in Richmond, VA as being low to moderate in sodium.

We offer several meal services to meet your needs with weekly and bi-weekly discounts that ship anywhere in the United States!

If you order by midnight on Mondays, you'll be in for delivery the same week!

06/11/2014

Are you often tired at the end of a busy and demanding work day? You’re not alone and the good news is that there are some things you can switch up in your daily routine to have more energy throughout the day.

Most of these options will take some time management, but some of them are super easy and convenient. Remembering to drink more water can be challenging, but it’s free and takes no time at all. You don’t have to fit it into your schedule and that's a huge bonus.

A meal delivery service is perfect busy lifestyles. You’ll be able to eat healthy AND save yourself tons of time throughout the day. If you’re focused on a healthier lifestyle, it’s easy to get discouraged because you might think healthy food tastes like cardboard and you don’t have time to cook real, healthy food at home.

If you’re looking for something fast, delicious and convenient without the hassle of shopping and the grocery store, Personal Chef To Go offers meal delivery service with several meal plan options that can help you successfully lose weight and keep it off for good.

We cook with the freshest ingredients; meats are antibiotic and hormone free, seafood is wild-caught and vegetables and grains are organic whenever possible. Our menus are naturally low to no Gluten and low on the Glycemic Index. We can accommodate most dietary restrictions so you should have no problem finding something to satisfy your taste buds.

Every bite you take follows this proven approach for healthier eating. All of our menus provide 1,100-1,400 calories daily with 40-50% total caloric intake from lean, adequate protein, 20-25% of calories from healthy fats, and 30-35% from complex carbohydrates, and meet DASH Diet and Weight Watchers Points Plus requirements.

We offer weekly meal plan options for Lunch and Dinner as well as options for Families, Busy Singles and Couples On The Go all delivered fresh, never frozen, right to your door no matter where you live in the United States. With meal plan pricing ranging from $69.50 to $129.50 per week, it only takes a few weeks to start seeing results. You don’t have anything to lose, but the fat!

Other ways to get that extra energy boost throughout the day

Eliminate processed foods from your diet. These types of food have almost no nutritional value and cannot possibly fuel your body and keep it energized for very long. A diet full of processed foods just leads to you craving more junk food.

It all comes down to knowing your body and taking care of yourself. If you have a busy schedule, it will be harder to get to bed on time, set aside time to meditate or workout—but drinking more water will help you regain your energy levels—and that’s a completely realistic option for you to try.

If you make this small change, you will see your energy levels steadily increase and your waistline decrease.

Losing weight, time management and food selection are all components of successful weight loss. Depending on your lifestyle, Personal Chef To Go can be a big benefit for yours!

06/04/2014

So when you can’t or aren’t able to eat your Personal Chef To Go meals, are you eating real, whole food as often as you’d like?

Like Chef Gene and Blair, I believe it’s best to eat real, fresh, whole food as often as possible.

The good news is, it doesn’t take as much time or energy as might think.

When I was changing my eating habits a few years ago one of the things that surprised me was how I could make healthy, home cooked meals and snacks in under an hour.

So today I ‘m sharing 7 tips for eating fresh, real, whole food without spending hours in the kitchen:

1. Start teeny.

When I was learning to eat differently one of the biggest things I learned was to set small, achievable goals.

It’s all about making it as easy as possible to make the first step and keep moving forward.

It was so much easier to start with one night a week and build from there.

Making it achievable also means you’re less likely to end up with a fridge full of vegetables that you’ll feel guilty about tossing when they’ve spoiled.

2. Learn some new tricks.

When you’re just getting into cooking real food for yourself, having a little collection of easy recipes that focus on speedy cooking techniques is half the battle.

If a recipe has an ingredients list as long as your arm, or has instructions like ‘simmer for 30 minutes’ it’s best to save them for weekend cooking when you have loads of time.

Look for simple stir frys, hearty salads or one pot meals. If you’re stuck for inspiration there’s a plethora of recipes on the Web to get you started.

3. Play with your food.

Avoid getting stuck in a food rut by swapping different ingredients into your favorite speedy meals.

For example, if you normally make a stir fry with tofu and kale, try it instead with bok choy or broccoli. The same goes for seasonings; if you normally use garlic, try ginger or a new spice instead.

4. Skip the peeling.

I’ve never been a big fan of peeling vegetables. It takes ages and you lose the nutrients close to the skin. Now I usually just rinse or scrub and move on to the next step.

You won’t notice the difference with thin skinned vegetables s like carrots or sweet potatoes. Butternut squash or potatoes get roasted, or baked with the skins on around here. It’s also easier to slip cooked skins off but I usually leave them on because they’re delicious and more nutritious.

5. Try it raw.

I’m hardly a raw foods enthusiast, but I do try to include some raw vegetables and fruits in my diet every day. Not only is this great for absorbing extra enzymes and heat-sensitive vitamins, it’s also much quicker and easier than cooking or steaming.

For example, it takes a fraction of the time to finely slice a bunch of broccoli and toss it in a dressing than it takes to steam it.

Think about finely slicing or grating vegetables and serving them raw. Some of my favorites are raw broccoli, cauliflower and carrots in place of steamed rice with curries or stir frys. I also love finely sliced cabbage or bok choy in salads– which adds great crunch and color.

6. Use what you have.

The ‘real food police’ aren’t going to arrest you because you haven’t prepared everything yourself from scratch. So don’t be afraid to use pre-prepared vegetables when it works for you.

I’m a big fan of things like pre-washed salad leaves and scrubbed potatoes. I usually don’t like paying extra for pre-chopped vegetables, but if it makes sense for you, go for it.

You can also try convenient ingredients as a flavor highlight or sauce. Things like healthy, commercial hummus, pesto, salsa, soy sauce, or curry pastes are good choices.

7. Keep it easy.

I once asked a nutritionist friend her thoughts about frozen vegetables. She said that freezing is probably the best method for preserving vegetables without losing much of the nutrition. In fact, frozen vegetables picked at their best will often have more nutrients than fresh’ vegetables past their prime.

Frozen vegetables make life easier if your schedule is busy because they will sit in the freezer waiting for you. They also save loads of prep time. Compare the time it takes to shell a giant bowl of peas with the time it takes to open the bag and pour them into a pot.

Frozen peas, onion and mirepoix are pantry essentials in our kitchen but you can also consider things like frozen spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, or even a frozen Chinese vegetable mix ready to stir fry in your wok.